R.E.M. called it quits in 2011, and while fans may be holding out hope for a reunion, Mike Mills doesn’t see that happening.
“R.E.M. broke up because it was time, and we all recognized it and we all had thought about it before we ever mentioned it to each other,” Mills said on the latest installment of the Rolling Stone Music Now podcast. “And, you know, it’s fine.”
Although the band did perform “Losing My Religion” together at their Songwriters Hall of Fame induction in 2024, Mills doesn’t see it as that big of a deal.
“We didn’t reform, we got together to play one song one time, because that’s what you do with the Songwriters Hall of Fame,” he says. “It’s churlish to go in there and not do the thing that everyone does when you play there. So we did … and it just completely reinforced our belief that we’d done the right thing.”
The interview had Mills, Hootie & the Blowfish’s Darius Rucker and former The Black Crowes drummer Steve Gorman talking about their new band, Howl Owl Howl, which wrapped a U.S. tour Saturday in Atlanta. Their show in Athens, Georgia, on Friday included an appearance by R.E.M. drummer Bill Berry.
Mills reveals in the interview that it was his R.E.M. bandmate Michael Stipe who came up with the name for the new group.
“Stipe said, ‘Howl Owl Howl,’” Mills says. “And I was like, ‘OK, that’s it. That is so weird that I’m gonna send it to ’em and they’re gonna hate it.’ And they did.”
Gorman adds that he changed his mind after a couple of days, noting, “It was just in my brain. I couldn’t get rid of it. I was like, ‘Oh s***. Howl Owl Howl’s great.’”
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